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THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


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ADDEESS 


DELIVEHED  BEFORE  THE 


AMERICAN  WHIG  AND  CLIOSOPHIC  SOCIETIES 


COLLEGE  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


JUNE  23d,  1846. 


Br  ALEXANDER  E.  BROWN. 


PRINCETON, 

PHINTED   BY  JOHN  T.  ROBINSON. 
1846. 


Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  American  Whig  Society,  June  24th,  1846. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Society  be  tendered  to 
Alexander  E.  Brown,  Esq.,  for  his  able  and  eloquent  address 
delivered  yesterday,  and  that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy 
for  publication. 

W.  C.ALEXANDER,) 

ASHBEL  GREEN,      V  Committee. 

DANIEL  ELLIOT.      S 


Extract  from  the  Minutes  of  the  CUosophic  Society,  June  24th,  1846. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Society  be  presented  to 
Alexander  E.  Brown,  Esq.,  for  the  able  and  interesting  ad- 
dress delivered  by  him  yesterday  before  the  American  Whig 
and  CUosophic  Societies;  and  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  request  a  copy  for  publication. 

Committee,  Prof.  Maclean  and  Joseph  Annin,  Esq. 


ADDRESS. 


The  contrast  between  the  spirit  of  earlier  ages  of 
antiquity  and  that  of  the  present  age,  is  both  startUng 
and  interesting.  The  energies  of  the  one,  seem  to 
have  been  directed  solely  toward  promoting  the  inte- 
rests of  the  few.  The  other,  spontaneously  pours  its 
blessings  on  the  living  and  moving  mass  of  mankind. 
The  one,  a  dark  and  sullen  stream  whose  waters,  un- 
suited  and  unrefreshing  to  the  common  lip,  flash  back 
no  sunbeam  to  cheer  the  common  eye.  The  other, 
clear  and  sparkling  with  the  beams  of  truth  ;  bearing 
in  safety  on  its  bosom  the  destinies  of  millions ;  water- 
ing in  its  course  meadows,  the  poor  man's  wealth, 
and  reflecting  on  its  bank  the  stately  mansion,  the 
rich  man's  pride  ;  and  speaking  in  notes  of  liquid 
gladness,  the  language  of  hope  for  all. 

We  stand  beside  the  gigantic  monuments  of  ancient 
Egypt.  We  examine  the  mystic  characters  with 
which  they  are  covered.  We  are  astonished  at  their 
proportion,  and  we  inquire  for  their  uses  and  the 
means  of  their  structure.     All  save  the  voice  of  con- 


jecture  is  silent.  The  arid  desert  gives  not  even  an 
answering  echo  back.  But  reasonable  conjecture  tells 
us  they  are  monuments  of  an  age  when  the  energies 
of  the  many  were  tasked  to  the  death  to  minister  to 
the  pride  and  avarice  of  the  few.  That  each  of  these 
hieroglyphics  probably  occupied  the  life-time  of  an 
immortal  being,  whose  soul  knew  not  the  privilege  of 
straying  beyond  the  narrow  circle  of  his  employment. 
That  those  ponderous  blocks  of  granite,  of  which  they 
are  composed,  were  altars  of  sacrifice  upon  which 
overtasked  and  overburdened  labour  stretched  itself, 
hopelessly  and  despairingly  to  die.  That  it  is  a  mon- 
ument not  only  of  regal  power,  but  of  human  suffering 
and  human  oppression ;  and  that  when  the  task  was 
completed,  and  the  ring  of  the  lash  and  the  shriek  of 
agony  had  died  upon  the  gale,  the  unburied  remains 
and  whitening  bones  of  its  artificers  were  a  fit  garni- 
ture of  the  mausoleum  of  irresponsible  power.  This 
is  but  a  single  illustration ;  but  the  little  that  remains 
to  us  of  the  history  of  that  age  by  no  means  de- 
tracts from  its  force. 

Descending  the  stream  of  time  to  the  days  of  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome,  we  find  the  condition  of  the  masses 
somewhat,  though  not  very  materially  improved. 
Mind,  for  the  chosen  few,  had  begun  to  unfold  its 
treasures.  Bright  spirits  arose  to  enlighten  the  age ; 
but  to  the  mass  of  their  countrymen  they  were  but  as 
stars  whose  mystic  characters  were  to  them  unintelli- 


gible;  that  cheered  not  their  humble  homes,  and  that 
warmed  not  their  cheerless  hearts.  They  passed 
away,  but  little  regretted  by  the  multitude  for  whose 
benefit  they  had  done  nothing,  and  by  an  age  by 
which  they  were  not  understood.  But  they  still  sur- 
vive and  are  as  household  words  with  us,  and  their 
labours  are  better  appreciated  in  our  day  than  they 
were  by  those  for  whose  benefit  they  should  have 
laboured.  Strange  that  those  parchment  scrolls — which 
the  barbarian  cast  aside  with  contempt  when  he  tore 
the  canvass  of  the  painter,  and  threw  down  and  de- 
stroyed the  noblest  w^orks  of  the  sculptor's  chisel,  in 
his  search  for  plunder — should  even  now  aid  in  wield- 
ing the  sceptre  of  mind  over  aland  of  which  the  Athe- 
nian sage  never  dreamt,  and  where  the  Roman  eagle 
never  winged  its  flight — that  the  thunders  of  Demos- 
thenes should  have  been  heard  re-echoed  on  the  floor 
of  Congress  in  the  days  of  our  Revolution,  and  the 
harp  of  the  Mantuan  bard  still  pour  its  sweet  notes 
among  the  wild  forest  glades  of  our  own  free  Colum- 
bia. But  they  were  in  advance  of  their  age,  and 
therefore  not  appreciated.  No  blame  to  them,  but  the 
hiofher  honour.  That  a^e  called  not  for  the  cultiva- 
tion  of  the  common  mind.  Man  was  considered  then 
in  mass  as  a  physical  machine,  not  as  a  moral  and 
accountable  being.  The  fierce  legionary  could  per- 
form his  work  of  blood  ;  the  plodding  labourer  could 
perform  his  daily  task  of  drudgery ;   the  bondsman 


8 

could  fan  the  slumbers  of  his  master,  without  the  aid 
of  education  ;  and  of  course  it  was  not  given  to  them. 
Thus  will  it  ever  be  where  the  glorious  soil  of  the 
intellect  is  uncultivated.  There  will  abuses  flourish 
in  all  their  rankness.  There  will  the  many  toil,  and 
labour,  and  die  for  the  benefit  of  the  few. 

Such  has  been  the  history  of  the  past.  Turn  we 
for  one  moment  to  the  contrast  presented  by  the  pre- 
sent age.  Men  build  for  themselves  now  monuments 
more  enduring  than  the  massive  piles  of  antiquity. 
But  they  build  them  of  words  that  are  common  to  a 
whole  nation.  Distinct  too  from  each  other,  though 
formed  from  materials  which  all  daily  employ.  Dedi- 
cated not  to  the  use  of  one,  but  for  ameliorating  the 
condition  of  all.  Undying  records  of  the  times  ;  whose 
uses  and  history  can  never  be  lost  in  any  future  anti- 
quity, however  remote ;  for  they  are  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  that  holy  truth,  which  by  the  will  of  the  Al- 
mighty is  destined  to  be  unchangeable  and  eternal. 
Yes,  whilst  the  scriptures  endure  the  best  literature 
of  our  day  will  never  want  a  key  and  interpreter.  We 
carve  not  the  marble  block  into  the  semblance  of  the 
human  form  with  a  skill  that  embodies  all  physical 
perfections  and  imbues  it  with  a  beauty  almost  divine, 
but  in  their  stead  we  point  to  our  living  statues  which 
the  genius  of  the  present  age  has  roused  from  their 
death-like  slumbers.  We  point  to  the  youth  rescued 
from  ignorance,  and  taught  to  feel  and  know  the  di- 


9 

vinity  within  him ;  his  kindling  eye  raised  to  the 
heavens,  his  ear  intent  to  catch  the  language  of  in- 
struction, his  bosom  swelling  with  delight  as  the  mys- 
teries of  science  are  unfolded  to  his  mind,  his  timid 
step  ascending  the  hill  of  fame,  her  chaplet  on  his 
head,  happy  in  the  present,  with  a  soul  overflowing 
with  gratitude  for  the  hopes  of  an  hereafter. 

These  are  the  statues  of  the  present  age.  Choose 
ye  between  the  living  and  the  dead.  We  rear  no 
obelisks,  we  carve  no  gigantic  monsters  to  guard  over 
the  desolations  of  the  wide-spread  desert.  But  in 
their  stead  we  point  you  to  the  swart  artizan,  govern- 
ing with  unerring  skill  those  tremendous  engines  of 
modern  times,  whose  powers  render  the  storied  feats 
of  Hercules  and  the  Titans,  seem  like  the  exploits  of 
the  pigmies ;  before  which  the  most  enduring  monu- 
ments which  have  defied  the  shocks  of  time  would  be 
crumbled  into  dust.  In  former  ac^es  that  man  would 
have  been  a  god ;  in  the  present  he  is  an  educated 
mechanist.  Choose  ye  between  the  torpid  endurance 
of  physical  power,  and  the  active  energy  of  enlightened 
mind  acting  upon  matter. 

We  build  no  temples  to  unknown  gods,  rich  with 
all  the  graces  and  w^onders  of  architecture.  No  gor- 
geous mausoleums  in  which  decayed  mortality  may 
be  mocked  by  the  durability  of  the  structure  that  sur- 
rounds it.  We  consecrate  no  halls  where  the  effigies 
of  the  great  of  departed  ages  stand  in  marble  silence, 


10 

whose  stony  eyes  view  not  the  train  of  their  worship- 
pers, whose  ears  drink  not  in  the  sweet  tributes  paid 
to  their  memories,  whose  Ups  reply  not  to  their  saluta- 
tions. But  in  their  stead  temples  to  the  living  God, 
built  as  a  labour  of  love,  where  all  may  enter  upon 
the  platform  of  humble  equality,  where  the  wisest  may 
learn,  and  the  most  ignorant  can  understand.  School- 
chouses,  where  the  energies  of  the  youthful  mind  are 
aroused  and  rightly  directed  into  action,  and  where 
the  boy  is  prepared  to  become  the  enlightened  man. 
Colleges,  where  the  garnered  treasures  of  the  mighty 
dead  are  collected  and  preserved;  where  the  wild 
war-harp  of  Homer  is  strung  anew,  and  thrills  each 
bosom  as  it  echoes  through  the  halls ;  where  the  lyre 
of  Horace  falls  sweetly  on  the  ear,  and  Virgil  kindles 
the  warm  flame  of  poesy  in  the  bosom  of  the  future 
bard ;  where  Cicero  excites  the  passions  and  corrects 
the  taste,  and  Demosthenes  touches  as  with  fire  the 
lips  of  the  future  orator.  These,  and  other  of  the  relics 
of  antiquity,  culled  by  the  careful  hand  of  sages,  who 
have  devoted  their  lives  to  the  sweet  and  willing  task, 
are  administered  to  the  youthful  mind.  Learning 
unfolds  her  ample  stores,  whilst  the  mind  is  adorned 
by  the  study  of  the  classics.  It  is  invigorated  by  ap- 
plication to  the  exact  sciences,  and  is  trained  for  future 
efficiency  by  strict  attention  to  those  branches  which 
conduce  to  practical  utility.  Above  all  the  Bible  is  a 
class  book,  and  whilst  the  mind  is  prepared  for  the 


11 

purposes  of  earth,  the  soul  is  trained  for  heaven  and 
eternity. 

These  are  the  monuments  of  the  present  age,  and 
strongly  do  they  contrast  with  those  of  former  days. 
Do  we  ask  the  reason  of  the  difference  ?  It  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  former  age  was  one  of  mere  physi- 
cal force,  whilst  the  present  is  the  age  of  moral  power 
and  religious  influence.  Under  these  influences  the 
oppressions  of  the  many,  by  the  few,  are  fast  disap- 
pearing :  for  the  intellectual  man  resists  and  repels 
where  the  mere  physical  being  only  writhes  beneath 
the  lash ;  the  educated  multitude  turn  their  flashing 
eyes  and  broad  hands  upon  the  oppressors  who  would 
drive  them,  and  hurl  them  to  the  dust,  where  the 
ignorant  masses  of  former  days  rendered  a  silent  and 
sullen  submission. 

Such,  my  countrymen,  is  the  history  of  our  own 
bright  land,  the  best  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  the 
age;  whose  every  page  is  marked  by  the  mighty 
workings  of  popular  education.  The  power  of  educa- 
ted masses  is  to  be  seen  in  every  step  of  our  country's 
advancement,  from  the  landing  of  the  first  emigrants 
upon  our  shores ;  the  declaration  and  achievement  of 
our  independence;  the  springing  up  of  our  cities ;  our 
triumphs  in  peace ;  our  triumphs  in  war ;  aye,  down 
to  the  very  day  when  on  the  Rio  Grande's  banks,  the 
countless  hordes  of  ignorant  invaders  fled  in  dismay 
before  the  thunders  of  the  red  artillery  whose  light- 


12 

nings  were  directed  by  educated  freemen.  Ours  is  a 
land  where  the  public  mind  is  educated  up  to  a  level 
with  their  rights.  All  powers  are  wielded  for  the 
benefit  of  the  many,  and  not  for  that  of  the  few,  and 
consequently  will  never  want  for  defenders  against 
either  foreioni  or  domestic  foes.  This  then  brino-s  me 
to  a  subject  upon  which  I  will  beg  leave  to  detain  you 
for  a  few  moments. 

The  influence  which  Seminaries  of  Learning 
must  ever  exercise  upon  civil  liberty. 

The  aspirations  of  the  youthful  heart  are  ever  for 
freedom.  Scarcely  has  the  thought  sprung  sponta- 
neously in  the  mind,  ere  the  springing  step  is  ready  to 
bound  along  the  path  which  fancy  sketched,  and  the 
ready  hand  to  carry  out  the  scheme  which  valour 
planned.  He  sees  the  waves  breaking  in  hoarse 
surges  on  the  shore,  and  he  longs  to  breast  them.  He 
hears  the  war  of  elements  and  he  longs  to  dare  them, 
and  almost  murmurs  at  the  roof  which  protects  him 
from  their  rage.  In  frame  a  boy,  in  will  he  is  a  giant. 
Neglected,  the  young  vine  would  shoot  and  grow  in 
profitless  and  rank  luxuriance.  Trained  and  pruned 
by  the  paternal  hand  of  culture,  its  form  becomes 
strong  and  graceful,  and  it  is  loaded  with  the  clusters 
of  a  generous  vintage.  It  is  thus  that  by  regulating 
and  condensing  the  energies  of  our  glorious  youth, 
that  colleges  become  the  nurseries  of  civil  liberty. 


13 

These  are  the  offerings  which  our  literary  institutions 
annually  lay  upon  the  altar  of  our  common  country. 
In  our  Colleges  and  Universities,  where  mind  is  free 
and  energy  unfettered,  the  coUision  of  ardent  and 
youthful  minds  must  cause  the  flame  of  freedom  to 
burn  with  redoubled  brightness.  The  youth  read  the 
histories  of  nations  suffering  and  oppressed,  and  now 
passed  away  forever.  They  read  of  an  ignorant  and 
uninformed  populace  goaded  on  by  intense  physical 
suffering,  rushing  like  a  turbid  torrent,  and  sweeping 
away  in  their  course  the  palace  of  the  monarch  and 
the  hovel  of  the  laborer  ;  desolating  alike  the  park  of 
the  noble  and  the  vineyard  of  the  peasant ;  commenc- 
ing a  revolution  for  liberty  in  its  widest  sense  in 
anarchy  and  blood,  and  ending  it  by  submitting  tno  a 
iron  despotism.  And  the  pale  student  starts  from  his 
Tolume  and  asks,  how  shall  I  best  serve  my  country  ? 
how  avert  from  her  these  fearful  evils  ?  And  reason 
answers  him,  by  holding  (as  it  is  your  duty  as  an 
educated  man  to  do)  the  torch  of  religion  and  lamp  of 
learning  before  your  countrymen  ;  by  forwarding  the 
cause  of  education  among  the  masses,  so  that  when 
Columbia  marshals  her  hosts  against  either  domestic 
or  foreign  oppression,  no  man  in  all  that  wide  spread 
multitude,  but  shall  be  not  only  an  acting  but  a  think- 
ing and  reasoning  being;  prompt  to  understand  his 
rights  and  astute  to  perceive  that  where  anarchy  be- 
gins, liberty  ends. 


14 

This  duty  to  their  country  our  Colleges  have  thus 
far  nobly  performed.  But  to  what  extent?  Count  if 
you  can  the  noble  trees  which  spring  from  seeds  mys- 
teriously floating  through  the  air.  Calculate  the 
flowers  that  the  summer  shower  and  the  summer  sun 
cause  to  spring  in  glad  luxuriance  from  the  generous 
earth,  and  you  will  be  yet  far  from  being  able  to  esti- 
mate the  benefits  which  a  right-minded,  highly-edu- 
cated man  may  produce  on  a  thinking  community. 
How  do  the  prejudices  of  olden  time  vanish  before  his 
touch.  How  strange  and  yet  how  palpable  the  secrets 
he  discloses  of  the  arcana  of  nature.  How  subtle  and 
yet  how  practical  the  application  of  the  secrets  of 
science  to  the  common  purposes  of  life.  How  does 
collision  and  intercourse  w^ith  such  a  mind  beget  in- 
quiry upon  subjects  never  before  thought  of  How 
rapidly  is  search  prosecuted  after  new  ideas.  And 
intellect  once  awakened  thus,  when  shall  it  cease  to 
labour?  Never. 

In  Europe,  too,  the  Universities  have  ever  been  the 
nurseries  of  liberal  sentiments.  Witness  the  ready 
sympathy  of  the  German  Universities  with  Republi- 
can France,  ere  she  revolted  humanity  by  her  deeds 
of  blood;  and  their  gallant  opposition  to  Imperial 
France,  when  her  legions  threatened  to  destroy  the 
little  of  liberty  that  Germany  still  possessed.  Then 
did  the  professor  and  the  student,  throwing  aside  their 
books,  array  themselves  for  the  battle-field.     Then 


15 

did  the  heroic  Korner — he  of  the  lyre  and  the  sword — 
wake  the  wide  land  with  the  notes  of  freedom's  min- 
strelsy; and  finally  pouring  forth  his  blood  on  the 
battle-field,  leave  in  the  galaxy  of  genius  one  bright 
star  the  less. 

But  we  may  be  told  that  in  France  learning  was 
with  the  revolutionists,  and  was  responsible  therefore 
for  at  least  some  part  of  their  excesses.  Admit  that 
the  cyclopedists  were  among  those  who  aided  in  that 
fearful  work.  It  only  makes  my  argument  the  stronger. 
We  contend  not  for  exclusiveness  of  knowledge.  It 
was  because  learned,  but  misguided  men,  had  an  igno- 
rant mass  to  act  upon,  that  these  evils  occurred.  If 
they  chose,  before  a  people  too  illiterate  to  read  or 
understand  their  Bibles,  by  solemn  edicts  to  denounce 
religion;  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  met  with 
no  reproof  from  those  into  whose  minds  religion  had 
never  poured  its  light?  As  it  ever  will  be  with  human 
learning,  unguided  by  a  light  from  on  high,  their  learn- 
ing made  them  the  most  pitiable  of  fools.  To  form  a 
government  not  recognizing  any  kind  of  religion,  was 
an  experiment  as  rash  and  impracticable  as  to  have  de- 
prived the  atmosphere  of  France  of  its  oxygen,  and  then 
to  have  required  the  people  to  live  and  breathe  under 
its  influence.  Theirs  was  an  instance  of  learning  reject- 
ing the  aid  of  high  moral  and  religious  influences,  and 
consequently  doomed  to  destruction.  This  is  not  the 
learning  communicated  to  our  people  in  our  Seminaries. 


16 

But  it  is  contended  that  the  system  of  Schools  is 
all-sufficient  for  the  wants  of  the  people,  without  the 
aid  of  institutions  for  instruction  in  the  higher  branches 
of  science  and  learning.     And  it  is  upon  this  ground 
that  the  opponents  of  Colleges  principally  fortify  them- 
selves.    And  yet  nothing  can  be  more  fallacious  than 
a  system  which  overthrows  itself.     So  surely  as  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge  awakens  the  human  mind, 
and  kindles  in  it  the  desire  of  further  acquisition,  so 
surely  does  the  multipUcation  of  schools,  and  the  ex- 
tension of  general  education  render  necessary  the  erec- 
tion of  Colleges  to  supply  the  wants  of  those  who  are 
not  willing  to  pause  at  the  threshold.     If  those  men 
were  told  of  a  law  about  to  be  passed,  prohibiting  any 
individual,  however  great  his  strength  or  powers  of 
endurance,  from  performing  more  than  the  amount  of 
labour  in  a  day  of  which  the  most  feeble  man  in  the  com- 
munity was  capable,  he  would  at  once  denounce  it  as 
an  act  of  gross  tyranny.     What,  he  would  exclaim, 
has  God  given  that  man  strength  and  power,  and  will 
you  by  your  laws  prevent  him   from  enjoying  and 
profiting  by  them.     If  they  were  to  be  told  that  men 
however  industrious  and  skilful  in  their  business  were 
to  be  prevented  from  acquiring  more  than  a  certain 
amount  of  wealth,  and  that  to  be  measured  by  the 
possessions  of  the  poorest  man  in  his  district,  they 
would  at  once  exclaim,  what  folly,  what  injustice. 
And  yet  they  are  prepared  at  once,  without  remorse, 


17 

to  apply  the  Procrustean  system  to  the  mind;  to  say 
to  the  aspiring  youth,  who  thirsts  to  increase  his  store 
of  knowledge,  thus  far  it  is  well  for  you  to  go,  but  be- 
yond those  limits,  with  our  consent,  jou  cannot  pass. 
It  is  true,  with  assistance  you  may  become  an  intel- 
lectual giant:  but  intellectual  dwarfs  better  suit  the 
institutions  of  our  country.  The  body  shall  be  free; 
the  will  shall  be  free;  but  the  intellect  shall  be 
clogged.  The  bark  shall  dash  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
mariner  over  the  stormy  sea,  but  we  will,  if  we  can, 
extinguish  the  stars  by  which  he  should  guide  her 
course. 

True  it  is  that  mighty  men,  the  men  of  the  sword, 
the  pen,  and  the  orator,  have  sprung  from  the  ranks 
of  the  people  without  the  aid  of  collegiate  education, 
and  have  dazzled,  delighted,  and  astonished  the  world. 
But  have  those  men  arisen  where  education  was  neg- 
lected b}^  those  around  them  ?  Was  nature  the  only 
glass  at  which  they  dressed  themselves?  Did  natural 
genius  inspire  them  with  a  knowledge  of  war,  of  laws 
and  government  of  which  they  never  had  heard  before? 
No.  They  sprung  up  in  highly  intellectual  commu- 
nities, and  by  force  of  intellect  caught  at  once  from 
others  that  which  it  had  taken  them  toil  and  time  to 
acquire,  and  surpassed  their  instructors.  But  the 
model  had  to  be  presented  before  them,  or  the  statue 
never  could  have  been  made.  Had  Shakspear,  Frank- 
lin and  Henry   been  born  among  savage  tribes,  they 


18 

would  have  been  noble  savages  ;  but  they  vrould  still 
have  been  only  savages. 

It  is  through  this  indirect  influence  that  Colleges 
greatly  benefit  the  country  in  which  they  are  sus- 
tained. Year  after  year  they  send  forth  through  the 
land  men  qualified  to  discharge,  efficientl}^  the  duties 
of  life ;  to  mingle  in  the  thoroughfares  of  business ;  to 
fill  the  professions ;  bearing  with  them  as  they  go,  if 
they  act  up  to  the  instructions  which  they  have  re- 
ceived, a  high  tone  of  sentiment,  and  infusing  into  the 
ranks  with  which  they  associate,  the  vigour  of  moral 
and  intellectual  power.  Thus  it  is  that  our  literary 
institutions  repay  the  favours  which  they  receive  from 
the  people.  No  cowled  monks  amongst  them  make  of 
their  learning  a  selfish  secret  of  the  cloister ;  no  magi 
are  they  to  veil  their  mysteries  from  the  common  eye ; 
no  pensioned  occupants  of  fellowship,  living  in  learned 
ease  for  learning's  sake  alone ;  but  active,  vigorous 
minded  men  moving  in  close  contact  with  their  fellows, 
asking  for  no  more  room  upon  the  common  platform 
of  the  world  than  they  have  power  to  occupy,  and 
claiming  no  exclusive  privileges,  save  those  which 
mind  can  conquer  for  itself  These  are  the  well  dis- 
ciplined soldiers  of  civil  liberty.  With  honest  pride 
mav  our  institutions  of  learning  look  upon  the  bands 
of  generous  youth  who  pour  annually  from  their  por- 
tals, and  mingle  in  the  ranks  of  the  defenders  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty.     Well  may  they  say  to  their 


19 

countrymen,  these  are  the  pledges  which  we  give  you 
of  our  usefulness ;  receive  them  with  confidence ;  their 
hearts  are  yours  already,  and  whilst  they  are  true  to 
the  teaching  they  have  received  within  our  walls, 
your  trust  will  never  be  betrayed. 

But  it  has  been  contended  that  learned  men  are  not 
the  friends,  or  at  least  have  not  been  the  active  cham- 
pions of  freedom.  If  by  this  it  is  merely  meant  to 
assert  that  the  book-worm  has  not  been  often  found 
ranged  upon  freedom's  battle-field,  there  could  be  no 
danger  to  my  argument  in  admitting  the  proposition. 
It  would  be  strange  indeed  to  find  them  engaged  in 
any  kind  of  active  enterprise.  But  if  it  is  intended 
to  assert  that  the  man  of  education,  the  man  of  en- 
larged intellect,  has  been  found  to  shrink  from  his 
compatriots  in  the  hour  of  danger,  I  beg  leave  to  deny 
the  proposition  unreservedly.  I  do  not  mean  to  con- 
tend that  learning  and  freedom  are  synonymous  terms. 
That  if  the  eldest  son  of  a  despot  happened  to  be  a 
learned  man,  he  would  of  necessity,  on  his  father's 
decease,  set  free  his  people  and  convert  his  govern- 
ment into  a  republic.  Far  from  it.  It  is  most  proba- 
ble he  would  use  his  learning  for  the  purpose  of 
consolidating  and  increasing  his  power.  I  do  not 
deny  that  learned  men  have  been  found  upon  the  side 
of  the  oppressor.  But  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  intelli- 
orent  and  intellectual  men  are  the  safest  and  easiest 
subjects  upon  which  to  exercise   oppression.     And 


20 

where,  as  in  our  Republic,  the  learned  and  educated 
man  mingles  in  daily  intercourse  with  the  people  of 
whom  he  forms  a  part,  where  is  it  that  he  has  arrayed 
himself  against  their  rights  ?  And  those  revolutions 
in  which  the  purely  unlettered  man  has  taken  the 
lead,  for  what  purposes  have  they  been  undertaken  ? 
and  how  have  they  generally  ended?  They  have 
generally  been  revolts  occasioned  by  mere  physical 
suffering,  and  have  ended  sometimes  in  a  temporary 
removal  of  the  grievance  complained  of — sometimes 
by  the  dispersion  and  overthrow  of  those  who  rose  to 
right  themselves.  But  little  other  benefit  has  resulted 
to  the  actors.     Still  less  to  mankind  at  large. 

But  those  two  glorious  Revolutions  which  were  not 
based  upon  mere  want  of  bread,  or  actual  deprivation 
of  property ;  revolutions  in  which  encroachment  was 
resisted  before  actual  oppression  had  commenced ; 
where  keen-sighted  vigilance  over  popular  rights,  per- 
ceived and  arrested  the  blow  aimed  at  them,  before  it 
had  acquired  the  velocity  which  would  have  rendered 
it  irresistable;  revolutions  which  have  been  the  watch- 
words of  struggling  man  throughout  the  world.  The 
Revolution  which  drove  the  Stuarts  from  the  throne 
of  Eno^land,  and  that  which  drove  the  British  kinor 
from  all  control  over  these  Colonies,  were  they  planned 
or  carried  through  by  the  ignorant  and  unlettered  ? 
Those  indeed  were  revolutions  effected  by  and  based 
upon  moral  power  ;  and  their  precedents  will  be  quo- 


21 

ted,  and  their  influence  felt,  whenever  and  wherever 
man  may  be  driven  to  the  assertion  of  his  rights.     Is 
there  any  evidence  in  history  to  show  that  even  Crom- 
well, mighty  as  he  afterwards  became,  comprehended 
the  necessity  of  resisting  the  levying  of  ship-money,  at 
the  outset,  or  that   that  necessity  to  him   appeared 
stronof  enouo^h   to   rouse   him   to   actual   resistance  ? 
None  that  I  have  been  able  to  see.     But  there  was 
one  man,  a  graduate  of  a  University  ;    a  man  of  for- 
tune and  a  man  of  leisure,  who  read  the  classics  in 
the  sweet  retirement  of  the  country ;  who  brought  the 
experience  of  the  past  to  bear  upon  the  present,  and 
who  saw  that  to  precipitate  the  coming  of  the  tempest 
was  the    surest  way  to  render   its   rage   innocuous. 
Surrounded   by  his  few^  and  sterling  friends,  all  of 
them  men  of  learning  and  acuteness,  in  the  face   of 
astonished  England,  he  braved  the  crown  in  the  plen- 
itude of  its  power.     Startled  by  this  bold  example, 
the  public  mind  aroused  itself  into  an  inquiry  into 
public  rights  ;  hints  of  the  rights  of  the  people  began 
to  be  murmurcil,  and  that  man  shaped  these  murmurs 
into  words  of  mighty  import.     Borne  down  for  awhile 
by  unrighteous  decisions  he  still  persisted.     When  a 
Parliament  was  assembled,  he  was  there  to  stand  by 
his  country  and  cheer  her  with  his  eloquence.     Broad 
and  deep  were  laid  in  the  public  mind  the  foundation 
for  the  mighty  events  that   were  to  follow — mighty 
the  onward  impulse  given  to  the  nation.     When  hos- 


22 

tilities  between  the  king  and  the  country  actually 
commenced,  that  man  was  in  the  field  acting  the  part 
of  a  brave  and  skilful  soldier ;  and  finally  on  the  bat- 
tle-field he  sealed  his  devotion  with  his  blood.  He 
had  lived  the  true  and  generous  friend  of  the  people, 
and  he  died  in  their  cause.  And  since  that  day  his 
name  has  been  one  of  the  watchwords  of  English  and 
American  freedom.  In  the  days  of  the  Revolution, 
his  course  was  taken  as  a  precedent ;  and  when  that 
Revolution  was  successfully  terminated,  he  took  his 
place  in  the  public  mind  with  Washington,  Franklin, 
Jefferson,  and  the  other  bright  stars  of  that  day ; — and 
at  the  present  hour,  the  American  statesman  need  not 
blush  to  acknowledge  that  he  has  taken  for  his  model 
the  English  patriot,  John  Hampden  ! 

Such  was  one  of  the  men  whom  an  English  Uni- 
versity sent  to  dwell  amongst  the  people.  None  can 
doubt,  that  although  Cromwell,  with  his  red  right 
hand,  darted  the  bolt  which  drove  the  Stuarts  from 
the  throne,  the  fire  in  which  it  was  forged  was  kindled 
by  Hampden  : — that  if  Cromwell  and  his  ironsides,  by 
their  physical  power,  scattered  the  armies  of  the  king, 
the  moral  power  of  Hampden  evoked  the  spirit  which 
rendered  those  victories  profitable  and  enduring : — 
that  if  the  cannon  of  Cromwell  prostrated  the  throne, 
the  surviving  spirit  of  Hampden,  caused  to  be  erected 
a  Temple  of  British  Freedom  upon  its  ruins. 

Such  is  the  difference  between  physical  and  moral 


23 

power!  When  the  fierce  Soldiery  are  mouldering, 
and  their  corslets  and  sabres  rusting  in  the  grave,  the 
spirit  of  the  Patriot  still  has  its  watchtower  in  each 
freeman's  heart,  ready  to  evoke  new  heroes  from  the 
ranks  of  the  people  to  battle  for  their  rights.  Thus 
that  race,  which  with  impunity  exhumed  and  insulted 
the  remains  of  Cromwell,  found  in  the  name  of  Hamp- 
den a  spell-word  of  power  which  a  second  time  closed 
the  hearts  of  Englishmen  against  them. 

But  were  those  who  planned  the  second  and  might- 
ier Revolution,  among  the  ignorant  and  illiterate  ?  A 
revolution,  surpassing  in  its  consequences  all  that  the 
most  sanguine  ever  dared  to  prophecy.  Were  they 
Tells,  or  Massaniellos,  or  Hofers ; — honest  friends  of 
liberty,  true  as  steel  and  fearless  as  their  swords,  but 
ignorant  of  forms  of  government,  who  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  this  mighty  fabric  deep  on  the  living  rock? 
Was  it  such  men  as  they  who  arranged  this  glorious 
galaxy  of  States,  into  which  star  after  star  has  rolled, 
and  holds  each  its  even  way  unfelt  except  in  the  in- 
crease which  it  makes  to  the  splendour  of  the  whole  ? 
Who  planned  that  mighty  moral  bond,  stronger  than 
triple  steel,  which  binds  together  mighty  and  indepen- 
dent States ;  which  throws  its  soft  yet  strong  embrace 
around  each  addition  to  the  band,  and  becomes  at 
once  a  part  of  its  nature  ?  Who  formed,  when  the 
country  was  but  small,  a  Constitution  which  has  been 
respected  and  unbroken  by  twenty-six,  now  twenty- 


24 

eight,  States  of  conflicting  interests;  States,  whose 
principal  tenancy  in  common  is  in  the  glorious  battle- 
fields of  the  Revolution,  and  whose  undivided  and 
indivisible  freehold  is  in  the  grave  of  their  Washing- 
ton? 

They  have  read  the  history  of  our  Revolution  to 
little  purpose,  vi^ho  do  not  know  that  many  of  the  pro- 
minent men  of  that  day  brought  all  there  was  of  the 
learning  and  wisdom  of  their  age  to  the  mighty  work 
they  had  in  hand.  Scholars  as  ripe  and  patriots  as  pure 
as  Hampden  were  there,  bending  all  their  energies  to  the 
task  before  them.  And  nobly  did  they  accomplish  it. 
Read  the  histories  of  the  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  you  will  find  a  large  proportion  to 
have  been  graduates  of  Colleges.  Learning  and  ex- 
perience had  taught  the  men  of  that  day  the  value  of 
moral  influences,  and  upon  them  they  based  their 
work.  That  moral  influence  which  rallies  men  to 
fight  like  heroes,  and  pour  out  their  blood  like  water, 
in  defence  of  a  tattered  flag,  the  emblem  of  a  principle, 
who  would  hold  their  lives  too  dear  to  be  risked  in  the 
defence  of  any  earthly  treasure:  those  principles  of 
love  and  moral  suasion,  under  which  the  old  thirteen 
Stales  were  bound  together,  but  w^hich  like  fire  in- 
creasing in  intensity  by  communication,  holds  in  bonds 
of  love  and  confidence  the  hearts  of  twenty  millions 
of  freemen,  whose  territory  must  be  spanned  by  an 
arch  springing  from  the  blue  Pacific  wave,  and  ending 


25 

among  the  hoarse  surges  of  the  Atlantic  coast.  That 
noble  principle  which  prompts  us  to  hold  to  our 
hearts,  and  appropriate  as  our  own,  all  that  is  great 
and  good  in  by-gone  ages,  which  time  can  neither  dim 
nor  destroy ; — a  principle  which  causes  the  names  of 
Trenton,  Princeton  and  Monmouth,  to  thrill  through 
the  bosom  of  the  youngest  American,  with  a  sense  as 
keen  as  ever  the  trumpet's  note  sent  through  the  bo- 
soms of  those  who  trod  the  ice-bound  sod  of  the  one, 
or  dyed  with  their  blood  the  burning  sands  of  the 
other. 

Such,  under  God,  were  some  of  the  moral  forces 
brought  to  bear  in  erecting  and  consolidating  this  glo- 
rious structure.  Under  these  influences  it  has  stood 
firm;  and  may,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  ^tand  firm 
for  ever.  Substitute  in  their  places  mere  physical 
force,  and  a  few  years  would  present  you  with  a  head- 
less trunk  and  gigantic,  dissevered  members,  writhing 
in  the  agony  of  deuth.  The  earth  would  remain,  but 
the  Sun  that  warmed,  and  invigorated,  and  rendered 
it  the  Paradise  of  freedom,  would  be  blotted  out  from 
the  heavens. 

Were  men  of  learning  then  recreant  in  the  hour  of 
their  country's  need  ?  No  !  Scarce  a  battle-field  where 
they  did  not  shed  their  blood — no  council-board  at 
which  they  were  not  present.  But  need  I  to  discuss 
this  subject  further  in  the  vicinity  of  that  venerable 
institution,  whose  walls  have  been  shaken  with  the 

2* 


26 

thunders  of  hostile  artillery  ?  through  whose  fields  the 
war-steed  has  dashed  with  blood-stained  hoof?   who 
gave  up  her  staff  and  her  stay  to  her  country,  when 
her  WiTHERSPOoN  wended  his  way  to  the  First  Con- 
gress, to  pledge  "  life,  fortune,  and  sacred  honour,  in 
behalf  of  the  land  of  his  adoption ;  and  who  gave  the 
first  fruits  of  her  academic  labours,  when  her  Stock- 
ton affixed  his  name  to  the  same  glorious  instrument. 
And  are  these  things  so?    Is  the  miracle  which  our 
country  presents  to  the  world,  in   point   of  fact  no 
miracle  at  all,  but  simply  the  result  of  the  application 
of  moral  and  religious  causes,  made  by  the  wisdom  of 
our  ancestors  under  the  most  happy  circumstances  ? 
Is  it  necessary,  in  order  to  preserve  these  blessings 
that  the  public  mind  should  be  refined,  and  knowledge 
extended  to  the  many,  instead  of  being  as  heretofore 
confined  to  the  few  ?  If  so,  how  shall  we  best  minister 
to  the  interests  of  our  country  ?    By  cherishing  our 
Colleges,  those  reservoirs  of  pure  waters,  builded  by 
the  hand  of  wisdom ;  which  so  benignly  pour  their 
invigorating  and  perennial  streams  through  the  land. 

Cherish  that  venerable  Institution  in  whose  behalf 
we  are  here  assembled.  One  hundred  years  sit  lightly 
on  her  brow.  A  hundred  years  in  which  the  gigantic 
efforts  of  the  human  mind  have  displayed  themselves 
with  startling  and  electrical  rapidity.  A  hundred 
years  during  which  more  free  principle  has  been 
evolved,  and  more  pernicious  error  exploded,  than  in 


27 

the  thousand  that  preceded  them.  And  yet  she  has 
been  always  equal  to  the  requirements  of  her  day. 
Light,  more  light,  has  been  the  incessant  cry  of  the 
people  ;  and  year  after  year  she  has  opened  wider  and 
wider  the  windows  of  the  mind.  Founded  under  the 
reign  of  a  king,  she  has  been  fully  equal  with  the 
spirit  of  the  age  as  the  teacher  of  stern  Republican 
principles.  Men  have  been  educated  within  her  walls 
whose  mighty  works  in  the  cause  of  freedom  have 
made  their  names  household  words,  where  she  per- 
chance is  never  mentioned.  And  yet  like  a  kind  and 
generous  mother  she  glories  in  their  honest  fame, 
albeit  it  may  eclipse  her  own.  Suffering  under  wrong 
and  neglect  she  has  vindicated  herself  by  pouring 
the  rich  treasures  of  her  sons  into  the  bosom  of  their 
country,  and  training  them  to  dedicate  themselves  to 
her  service ;  and  has  forgotten  that  neglect  in  the 
sweet  task  of  rearing  others  for  that  same  bright 
career.  Year  after  year  for  a  century  past,  have  her 
venerable  Presidents,  with  streaming  eyes  and  bleed- 
ing bosoms,  given  the  parting  charge  and  parting 
benediction  to  a  band  of  bright-eyed  youths  about  to 
sever  long-cherished  ties,  and  launch  upon  unknown 
seas ; — and  when  another  year  rolled  round,  those 
venerable  men  might  see,  pressing  against  the  barriers 
that  held  them  in,  another  band  instinct  with  life, 
ambition  and  energy ;  eager  to  follow  their  departed 
companions,  careless  of  the  paths,  regardless  of  the 


'28 

dangers,  so  they  but  lead  to  the  rewards  of  an  honour- 
able fame. 

Oh,  my  friends,  how  much  vitality  and  vigour  has 
this  Institution  transfused  into  the  veins  and  arteries 
of  our  land,  in  the  last  hundred  years.  One  hundred 
years  of  fast-clinging  affections — one  hundred  years 
of  heart-rend mg  separations  !  The  winds  of  near  one 
hundred  autumns  have  stripped  her  of  her  leaves,  but 
she  has  renewed  them  as  they  fell;  and  she  now 
stands  clothed  in  a  glorious  foliage,  rich  in  bright 
hopes  and  future  promises.  And  think  you  these 
associations  will  have  no  influence  upon  the  destinies 
of  our  common  country  ?  Aye,  should  the  trumpet  of 
discord  ring  through  our  land,  from  the  North,  from 
the  South,  from  the  East,  from  the  West,  brother  will 
call  unto  brother ;  strong  hands  and  willing  minds 
will  be  put  to  the  work  of  reconciliation ;  and  when 
the  storm  has  passed,  and  the  bow  of  peace  appears  in 
the  sky,  beneath  its  arch  will  stand  conspicuously 
displayed,  that  Ancient  Hall,  where  learning  and  re- 
ligion were  cherished  in  the  mind,  and  that  friendship 
which  grows  not  dim  with  age,  was  kindled  in  the 
heart.  Let  but  the  future  be  what  the  past  has  been, 
and  a  grateful  country,  with  loud  acclaim,  will  pro- 
nounce this  Hall  of  Science  one  of  the  strong  pillars 
of  Civil  Liberty. 


29 

Gentlemen  of  the  two  Literary  Societies  : 

You  are  training  yourselves  to  take  an  active, 
and  I  trust  not  inglorious,  part  in  the  affairs  of  a 
mighty  nation.  A  nation  whose  physical  power  is 
tremendous,  and  whose  growth  has  been  so  extraor- 
dinary as  to  baffle  calculation  for  the  future.  A  nation 
of  boundless  territory,  and  capable  of  supporting  in 
comfort  more  than  quadruple  her  present  population. 
A  nation  free,  generous  and  independent  in  their 
views.  A  nation,  too,  more  under  the  influence  of  mind, 
than  any  nation  that  ever  existed.  Keen  to  investigate, 
and  acute  in  their  scrutiny ;  but  sure  to  let  their 
actions  go  with  their  belief  Over  all  this  mighty 
land  thought  holds  her  throne,  and  she  alone  is  privi- 
leged to  wield  her  sceptre  over  the  free.  And  mighty 
are  her  efforts.  Go  listen  on  your  Atlantic  shore 
w^hen  the  fierce  tempest  rolls  her  billows  on  the  beach, 
— go  listen  when  the  wild  winds  rave  through  your 
forests  of  a  thousand  years.  It  is  but  a  harmless  echo 
compared  with  the  concentrated  energy  of  a  free  and 
thinking  people,  when  roused  by  some  mighty  thought 
they  arm  themselves  for  action.  Where  is  the  rock- 
bound  coast  which  can  resist  the  mighty  billows  of 
the  popular  will ;  where  the  earth-fast  oak  that  is  not 
uprooted  by  its  breath  ? 

Such,  my  young  friends,  is  a  character  of  the  people 
amongst  whom  you  will  act  and  move.  How  shall 
you  prepare  yourselves  for  usefulness  and  distinction 


30 

on  this  glorious  theatre  ?  By  cultivating  your  every 
power  to  its  fullest  extent.  By  attention  to  all  your 
studies,  for  there  are  none  of  which  you  will  not  at 
some  time  wish  to  avail  yourselves  in  after  years. 
By  cultivating  a  sound  and  healthy  tone  of  moral  and 
religious  sentiment,  which  tells  as  much  for  the  man 
as  a  well-toned  instrument  does  for  the  musician. 
And  finally,  by  adopting  for  your  motto,  "  he  will  best 
serve  who  best  loves  his  country." 

Farewell.  The  hour  is  come.  The  dream  is  past. 
The  student  has  become  the  graduate.  The  youth 
has  become  the  man  ;  and  soon  the  dust  of  the  high- 
ways of  busy  life  will  hide  from  our  view  the  green 
fields  of  our  college  days. 


LB2325 .L77 

Obituary  addresses  delivered  on  the 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


^       1    1012  00085  2162 


^m 

1 

„, 

